Johnson County official thinks federal storm aid still possible

The Johnson County emergency management coordinator says the numbers given to FEMA in the request for federal aid in the wake of the April 13th tornadoes might have been too confusing. FEMA denied request for federal aid and told the state the damage totals were not high enough.

Tom Hanson says the state included the public and private estimates of damage together and changing that during an appeal may let them get some of the money from FEMA. Hanson says if they take out the individual numbers and submit the public numbers, he thinks they have a good case to get the public amount approved.

Iowa City officials estimate they’ve spent about three-point-four million dollars following the tornado, the county spent between one and one-and-a-half million dollars, and the University of Iowa is estimating anywhere from five million to six million dollars.

The decision on the appeal is up to the governor, and he has some support in Washington from Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. Grassley says he intends to support the governor’s appeal. Hanson says the small business administration will take care of the appeal for the individual estimates of damage.